


The Force of Our Love

by eighth_chiharu



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:55:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21890809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eighth_chiharu/pseuds/eighth_chiharu
Summary: MAJOR SPOILER ALERT. HUGE SPOILERS. DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU HAVE SEEN TROS OR DON'T CARE ABOUT SPOILERS. Immediately after the end of TROS.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 5
Kudos: 49





	The Force of Our Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [arkaniis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arkaniis/gifts).



> For Kyuu. I fixed it.

"Rey Skywalker."

The old woman squinted at her before huffing and walking away, muttering something that sounded very much like _better luck this time_. Rey watched her shuffle off with her beast, standing beneath the hot suns until the woman struggled over the dunes and was gone.

"Well," Rey murmured to herself, her mouth quirked upward in amusement, "she'll probably win some sort of bet when she hears I'm not staying."

A breeze blew softly against her back, tickling her skin, then increased in strength, mussing her hair. She turned, and the amusement dropped away.

Clouds churned on the horizon, red and blurry, advancing fast.

"Sandstorm."

Her gaze flicked to her ship, then back to the storm. The breeze was harder, rising fast, lifting the sand to bite at her exposed legs and bare arms and rattle against the surface of the Lars home. She could get off-planet if she hurried. Run to her ship, take off, leave the lightsabers to the elements, as planned. She'd been a month getting here, wrestling with the grief and joy and confusion of everything that had happened until she'd almost given in to the darkness that pulled at her senses -- not the Dark Side, but the black release of her own awareness. If not for Finn, she might have. She hadn't, though. She hadn't done anything, not meditated nor asked questions she knew had no answers, but she'd kept herself alive. She'd done as he asked, and left the Force to itself, and when she trusted herself to fly again, she'd come here to honor and bury the past. It was all she could think to do.

It seemed the planet was answering her wish.

The wind slapped at her, yanked at her clothes and sent sand stinging against her face. She took one last look at her ship, and darted back to the homestead. The sand swirled in loud, painful gusts, and she stumbled over the uneven ground of the small courtyard toward the nearest room that might provide shelter. The door was closed and sand from the passing years drifted up against the metal, but with a quick shove she pushed it open, stumbling over the sand and jamming it closed behind her.

Instantly, the noise dropped. The wind was a soft hum; the battering sand only quiet white noise. She turned slowly, eyes adjusting to the red, dim glow that filtered in from the transparisteel skylight.

It was a bedroom.

It was maybe three meters by five, wider than it was long. The walls were the same beige plaster as the rest of the homestead, and there were two built in features, one that probably had been a desk or shelf, and another longer and narrow, where a sleeping pallet had rested. Given the size of the platform, this might've been Luke's room, or a hired hand's. It wasn't vandalized, but it was empty except for a broken chair in the corner. Perhaps it had been looted after the Imperial attack, as it would have been on Jakku. Survival mattered more than respect for the dead, who no longer needed their belongings.

She picked her way across the sandy floor, kicking at piles and checking for the creatures that always seemed to find a way into closed desert chambers, but none appeared. Like always, she was alone.

The platform for the bed was as hard as it looked. She sat on it cross-legged and leaned against the wall, head tilted back to peer at the skylight. The storm swirled darkly past, red and pink and brown by turns, obscuring sunlight so the world was the color of old blood. It would add more centimeters to the sand covering this place, covering Luke and his family. She closed her eyes, exhaled, and imagined it could bury her, forever.

"You'd upset Finn if you did that."

She froze, muscles locked at the voice. No, it couldn't be. It couldn't. Not even her own sad mind would be that cruel --

"Rey," it said gently, "it's me."

She forced her eyes open, and her heart clenched painfully in her chest, letting out no more breath than a strangled gasp.

" _Ben_."

He smiled, and that made it hurt worse. She stayed where she was, fingers digging into her palms, tears welling up. She wanted to get up and run to the blue transparent projection, the one with no scars and no fatigue, but she knew if she tried to fling her arms around him, she would pass through him like so much air, and she couldn't endure that. She couldn't stand trying to touch him and failing.

But here was proof, if she needed more, and she admitted to herself that in that long month without him, she had doubted. He was with the Force. She'd seen him fade away like Jedi did, and it hadn't been a lie. He was safe at last.

"I miss you." The tears spilled over. "I miss you."

His smile dimmed. "I miss you, too."

She laughed, watery. "Are you allowed to do that? You're with your family now, aren't you meant to be --" She flapped a hand and sniffled.

“I could be, if I wanted.” He didn’t approach her, and that was as bad as making herself sit still. "I don't want to, not yet. It's all right, they don't mind. A few years before forever isn't much."

"So you.. you came to say goodbye." She slid forward without meaning to, her legs over the side of the sleeping platform, stopping herself just as her legs tensed to rise. "Now that I'm in this place. Is that symbolic? More Jedi puzzles even when you're dead? Why didn't you come to me earlier? It would've helped, I was -- I _missed_ you, it hurt so much!"

He stepped forward, hands up, placating. "I know. I'm sorry, I tried, but you weren't ready. You closed yourself off from the Force, you didn't want to see me."

"I did!" He looked at her, and she sagged back against the wall. "... No, I didn't. I wanted you to be at peace. You'd suffered so much. It wasn't right. Asking for you to come back..."

"It's not like that."

She pressed the heels of both hands to her eyes and shook her head. "I couldn't be that selfish. I can't. Go, Ben, please. Don't stay just for me."

He didn't answer right away, pausing before saying, "Do you know what Obi-Wan said when he gave himself up to save my mother and the others? 'If you strike me down, and I shall become more powerful than you can ever imagine.' And I am, Rey. I am."

Her brows furrowed beneath her hands. "I don't understand. What does that matter? Power isn't important. You're..."

"Say it, it's all right." His voice was closer, right beside her. "I'm a ghost."

She dropped her hands, and he was sitting next to her on the platform, so close yet still a spirit, a manifestation in the Force. She shook her head again, new tears falling down her cheeks. "Please don't. Please. Say goodbye and go. I can't have a life with you, I can't even _touch_ you, and it's torture --"

He lifted his hand and took hold of hers, and she gasped. 

Eyes huge, she stared at their linked hands. "Impossible."

"Nothing is impossible. I didn't save you just to abandon you." His grip tightened. "I would never abandon you. We're two parts of a whole."

"Ben --"

"I _love_ you, Rey." He said it with such vehemence that he crackled, his hand growing hot against hers, tingling. "I want to stay with you, if you'll have me."

The thoughts wouldn't come. She couldn't form them. "You -- you can't. You can't give up --"

"I'm not. And neither are you." His other hand came to her cheek, cupping it, as warm and electric as the first. "We'll be together here, on this plane, and when the time comes, we'll be together after." His smile quirked, hopeful. "How many proposals can say that? Guaranteed afterlife."

She shook her head again, laughing automatically, her mind swimming as this touch rubbed over her skin. "Arrogant."

"Confident. There's a difference."

She looked down, looked through him at the platform, and her smile faded. She lifted her other hand and touched his, capturing it against her cheek, her voice hushed with disbelief and a desperate desire to believe. "How? How is this happening? How can we touch?"

"It's exerting pressure through the Force, that's all. I heard your friends' stories while I waited for you. What you told them about Luke and how he helped you reach Exegol. If he can lift an X-Wing," Ben whispered back, "I think I can manage to touch my wife."

More tears, but not of sadness. The wind over the skylight had more volume than her question. "All the time?"

Ben leaned in. "As often as you want," he said, and kissed her.

**Author's Note:**

> ...and anywhere. Anyplace. ;)


End file.
